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Zero Hedge: One Ohio Politician Has A Simple Solution To The Overdose Problem: Let Addicts Die

Across the country, opioids killed more than 33,000 people in 2015, more than any year on record, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As we have noted numerous times, the epidemic is ravaging populations across racial and socioeconomic lines, according to The Post’s Joel Achenbach and Dan Keating. Spurred by overdoses, the death rate for Americans rose 8 percent between 2010 and 2015.

And Ohio and other Rust Belt states are at the center of the epidemic. Opioid-related deaths in Ohio jumped from 296 in 2003 to 2,590 in 2015 — a 775 percent jump, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

There’s also an economic toll: One study estimated that the cost of the prescription drug opioid epidemic costs American society $78.5 billion.

And one Ohio city council member has a solution…

As The Washington Post reports, under a new plan, people who dial 911 seeking help for someone who’s overdosing on opioids may start hearing something new from dispatchers: “No.”